Find Records Fast:

How Can I Find Free Federal Criminal Court Records Online

Court records are usually available on the internet to be accessed. PACER maintains a record of all the federal court records of all states. You do not have to be a legal practitioner to use the PACER service. There is a threshold point of search that you can make for free and if you go beyond that then you will have to pay $0.08 for each page.

To use PACER you will have to specify the state of the target that you want to search information about. This is easier than you having to visit the website of each state to locate the federal criminal court record you are seeking. PACER gives you access to search for both the federal criminal charges and the state criminal records.

To search for the federal records, you can register at the PACER website. PACER stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records. From the homepage click on the register bottom and fill the form that will be displayed on the screen. It will require that you enter your credit card information; the charges are minimal as low as $0.08 per page. If your quarterly fee runs less than $10, then you will not be charged for the service.

When you register with PACER you will receive a confirmation mail, complete the steps required and you will be given a password. Safeguard this password as it is your ticket to locating things you require from the PACER website. When you are ready to use the service, type in the pacer website into your browser; you will have to log into the website with your password and your username. If you have a client code, input that in the required box and verify your log in.

Once in the website click on the Criminal button located at the top of the page or just search for court cases. If you seek any information on a person, you will first enter all courts into the region box, you will also be required to input your name in the field titled party name. Once all these are done, you can then submit for results to be displayed. If there are no federal criminal records available it will display no records found in the screen. If there is a record found you can view the case summary but will have access to the actual court record for 0.08 dollars only.
Searching for state criminal records

The state criminal record is in most cases available online. You can view them by visiting the National website for the National state courts. Keep in mind that there is no fixed fee for this price and so the price varies for each state. Look through the website and determine the sate that you want to make an inquiry within, note that each state has its own website. Once you locate the website you seek, if you do not find the record you seek, you can contact the state through the contact page and ascertain if their records are online. It is possible though to do free background checks.

When using PACER, you should know that passwords are case sensitive; also you should keep your search within 125 pages per quarter, with that you will have less than $10. Minimize your cost by ensuring that you print all your results or downloading them on the system. This will help you have access to them should you need them in future.

Additional Resources

This website is not affiliated with the US government and does not sell any type of certificates or FCRA based information. You can view our privacy policy and disclaimer or contact us if you have any questions.